A source said some people who ran away with gun wounds later died in the bush.
Seven people have reportedly been killed during a clash between men of the Oyo State Security Network Agency better known as Operation Amotekun and herdsmen at Aiyete in the Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State.
According to Punch, the fight started at Okebi village in the morning of Saturday, January 9, 2021.
A resident of the area, who gave his name as Saliu told the newspaper that seven people had been killed.
Saliu also said that several houses had been burnt, adding that no one knew the cause of the fight yet. “The number of people killed has increased to seven. Those who were shot and ran away later died in the bush.”
Another source, who spoke to the newspaper said the clash was between the Amotekun corps and herdsmen.
The Commandant of Amotekun in Oyo State, Col. Olayinka Olayanju (retd), when contacted told Punch that he was on his way to the area to ascertain what happened.
Some parts of Spain are flooded with snow, with half of the country on red alert for more on Saturday.
People trying to keep warm
Madrid, one of the worst affected areas, is set to see up to 20cm (eight inches) of snow in the next 24 hours.
The city’s airport has closed along with a number of roads.
On Friday evening, a number of vehicles became stranded on a motorway near the capital.
Firefighters were called in to assist drivers who had become stuck. In some areas the military were called in to help clear roads.
Authorities have asked people to avoid non-essential travel.
According to local media, the snowfall in Madrid is the heaviest in at least 40 years. The country’s AEMET weather agency said the snowfall was “exceptional and most likely historic”.
A number of people were seen making the most of the snowy scenery, walking through Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square.
Large parks in Madrid have since been closed as a precaution.
An exclusive screening tagged ‘An Evening With the Milkmaid’ will hold in Lagos at Terra Kulture on Sunday, January 10, 2021 at 5.00pm, with the Honourable Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, as the special guest of honour, and ace comedian Bright Okpocha a.k.a. Basketmouth as event compere.
In December 2020, The Milkmaid was announced by the 12-member Nigeria Official Selection Committee (NOSC) as Nigeria’s representative to the 93rd Oscars in the category of Best International Feature Film, following a statutory vetting and subsequent voting of entries received from Nigerian filmmakers at home and abroad.
Written, produced and directed by Desmond Ovbiagele, The Milkmaid is a Hausa language-based thriller spotlighting insurgency and extremism, especially as they affect women and children in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Technically crafted to the highest international cinematic standards, the film showcases the natural beauty of Nigeria’s topography such as the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba state, while highlighting the richness of the subregion’s colourful Hausa and Fulani cultures.
Starring Maryam Booth, Anthonieta Kalunta, and Gambo Usman Kona, with US-based Nigerian surgeon Dr. Oluseun Sowemimo as its Executive Producer, the film follows Aisha, a Fulani milkmaid, searching for the whereabouts of her younger sister, Zainab after a forced separation.
Dire personal circumstances force her to approach the extremists who were responsible for their predicament in the first instance, but she is determined to find her despite the compromises she must make to do so.
However, her quest to recapture her serene past proves to be unexpectedly complicated in a world whose seething conflict provides several paths to becoming a victim with typically irreversible consequences.
The Milkmaid received efiveight nominations at the 16th edition of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) in December 2020, winning awards for Best Film, Best Supporting Actress, Best Nigerian Film, Best Film in an African Language, and Achievement in Make-up.
The Ogun State Police Command has arrested a former guard, Mela Samaila, for allegedly stealing the offering box of the Grace Nations Church, aka Liberation City.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the suspect who worked for the church as a security official, broke into the auditorium.
According to the police spokesman, Samaila, reportedly stole the offering box containing an undisclosed amount of money in the church located at Ojodu Abiodun in the Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The suspect was said to be arrested following a distress call received by the police at the Ojodu Abiodun Divisional Headquarters from security men on duty at the church.
Samaila
To Oyeyemi, the suspect broke into the church around 4am on Thursday, noting that the guards told the police that a thief scaled the fence of the church, broke into the main auditorium and made away with the church’s offering box.
“Upon the distress call, the DPO Ojodu Abiodun division, CSP Eyitayo Akinluwade, quickly mobilised his patrol team to the scene, combed the area and succeeded in arresting the suspect with the help of the security men of the church and the offering box was recovered from him,” he said.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect was once a security man in the church, but was relieved of his duty due to some untoward behaviour.”
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, has directed that the suspect be charged to court.
The governor of Lagos state , Sanwo-Olu revealed the news via his Twitter page;
Today, as part of our promise to reward academic excellence in Lagos State, I presented cheques of N5 million each to the best graduating students of the Undergraduate and Masters programmes of the Lagos State University.
Shotunde Oladimeji Idris, the best graduating student was also offered automatic employment into the state’s civil service as we continue to improve the attractiveness of our civil service for the state’s best brains.
At the start of this administration, improving education in the state was highlighted as one of my biggest priorities, and we demonstrated commitment by increasing budgetary allocation to the sector as we work on improving the quality of our curriculums & welfare of our students.
The delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics are scheduled to start on 23 July 2021.
Manyonga is among the favourites to win gold in Tokyo after winning the 2017 World and 2018 Commonwealth titles.
In 2012, Manyonga was banned from athletics for 18 months after testing positive for crystal meth.
The AIU says athletes must provide “accurate and up-to-date” details about their whereabouts as a way to “ensure compliance to anti-doping rules”.
A whereabouts failure against an athlete will be recorded if they fail to submit their whereabouts by the required deadline, have not provided updated or sufficient details to administrators, or are not available for testing in an agreed 60-minute time slot.
Under World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules, any combination of three whereabouts failures within 12 months is an anti-doping rule violation.
A ban up to two years could be imposed for the offence.
In May last year, Manyonga was fined for public drinking and contravening South Africa’s strict lockdown restrictions
Twenty-three soldiers accused of being behind the assassination of former president of Democratic Republic of Congo have been released after spending nearly two decades behind bars.
Laurent Kabila was shot dead by a bodyguard in 2001. A military trial that followed jailed dozens of soldiers, including Col Eddy Kapend, his personal aide.
Human Rights groups criticised the trial. Some in DR Congo believe the soldiers were used as scapegoats.
There has been much speculation about who gave the orders for Kabila’s assassination, including suggestions that foreign powers were involved, as it came at a time when several neighbouring countries were involved in the conflict in DR Congo.
The soldiers’ release follows pardons issued by President Félix Tshisekedi who took over from Joseph Kabila, the son of the late president, two years ago.
Mr Kabila repeatedly resisted calls to pardon the prisoners – 11 of whom died whilst in custody.
The release comes amid a power struggle between President Tshisekedi and his predecessor, who continues to wield considerable influence in the country.
Mr Tshisekedi ended his coalition with Mr Kabila’s party – which holds a majority in parliament – following years of tension.
The president is currently seeking new coalition partners that would give him a majority in parliament
Thousands of refugees and migrants urgently need proper shelter in Bosnia-Herzegovina after weeks outdoors in freezing cold, the UN has warned.
Some 2,500 people are in unheated tents or sleeping rough near the northern town of Bihac. A UN official says some are now being moved to heated tents.
Local authorities have refused to reopen a nearby reception centre.
Instead hundreds have been forced to return to a temporary camp that was ravaged by fire last month.
Peter Van der Auweraert of the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) showed photos of the basic tents erected at the Lipa camp by the Bosnian army a few days ago.
The camp was set up hastily in the summer when the coronavirus pandemic forced crisis measures including border closures.
But aid agencies pulled out of the camp in December, saying it was unsustainable without water and electricity.
Some residents forced to leave the facility looted equipment and set fire to tents, police said.
However, about 900 migrants had to go back there, after local officials refused to let them move to the empty reception centre in Bihac. Another 1,500 are struggling in primitive conditions elsewhere near the town.
The migrants are from South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and got stuck in Bosnia while trying to reach Croatia, an EU member state seen as a gateway to the EU.
image captionThis week the Red Cross provided some hot food for the Lipa migrants
Some of the migrants have refused to use the tents in Lipa because they lack heating and sanitation. Some also went on hunger strike, angry at the lack of amenities. But on Tuesday many did receive Red Cross food parcels.
“We want people in proper reception centres where they have access to services, like the 6,000 other people in Bosnia,” Mr Van der Auweraert, the IOM’s head in Bosnia-Herzegovina, told the BBC’s Balkans correspondent Guy De Launey at Lipa.
The IOM says about 8,500 non-EU migrants are living in Bosnia, still hoping to get to northern Europe.
Embattled United States President, Donald Trump has disclosed that he will not be attending the inauguration of president-elect Joe Biden.
Mr Trump who until yesterday refused to concede the 2020 election, is currently facing impeachment following the invasion of Capitol Hill by some of his supporters.
The 45th POTUS has consistently claimed that the election was rigged without providing evidence. His claims of rigging got him suspended on major social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Trump
On Friday, Mr Trump tweeted that he will not be attending the inauguration.
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” he tweeted.
Twitter suspended the ban on his account after a 12hours suspension for violating Twitter rules.
The 45th President of the United States of America, Donald Trump through his official twitter account, announced that he’ll not attend the Inauguration ceremony of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20, 2021.
Elon Musk just became the richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $185 billion.Thursday’s increase in Tesla’s share price pushed Musk past Jeff Bezos, who had been the richest person since 2017 and is currently worth about $184 billion.Musk’s wealth surge over the past year marks the fastest rise to the top of the rich list in history — and marks a dramatic financial turnaround for the famed entrepreneur.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, stands on the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory in Grünheide near Berlin, September 3, 2020.
Elon Musk just became the richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $185 billion.
Thursday’s increase in Tesla’s share price pushed Musk past Jeff Bezos, who had been the richest person since 2017 and is currently worth about $184 billion. Musk’s wealth surge over the past year marks the fastest rise to
Musk started 2020 worth about $27 billion, and was barely in the top 50 richest people.
Tesla’s rocketing share price — which has increased more than nine-fold over the past year — along with his generous pay package have added more than $150 billion to his net worth.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s share price has remained more subdued due to the potential for increased regulation from Washington.
Elon Musk passed Warren Buffett in July to become the seventh richest person. In November, Musk raced past Bill Gates to become the second richest person. Musk has gained more wealth over the past 12 months than Bill Gates’ entire net worth of $132 billion.
Tesla’s shares were recently trading at about $790, up more than 4% in trading Thursday. The company’s market value has grown to $737.6 billion.
The minister said there was a committee working on the new electricity tariff regime and the committee should be allowed to complete its work
The Nigerian Government has directed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to suspend the recently adjusted electricity tariff.
The Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, made this known in a statement on Thursday.
NERC had on Tuesday increased the electricity tariff payable by power consumers across the country. The hike in tariff which varies, based on different consumer classes, took effect from January 1, 2021.
The regulatory agency blamed the N2 to N4 adjustment in tariff on inflation and movement in foreign exchange rates. Labour unions have threatened showdown over the development, saying the government was insensitive to the plight of Nigerians, considering the fact that there was an increment in the last two months.
But in the statement on Thursday, the minister said there was a committee working on the new electricity tariff regime and the committee should be allowed to complete its work before any development or adjustment.
Mamman, therefore, directed NERC to suspend the recent increment until the committee concludes its work by end of January.
He said, “The public is aware that the Federal Government and the Labour Centers have been engaged in positive discussions about the electricity sector through a joint ad-hoc Committee led by the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity and Co-Chaired by the Minister of State for Power. Great progress has been made in these deliberations which are set to be concluded at the end of January, 2021.
“To promote a constructive conclusion of the dialogue with the Labour Centers (through the Joint Ad-Hoc Committee), I have directed NERC to forestall the implementation of the duly performed minor review (which adjusted tariffs between N2 per kWh and N4 per kWh) until the conclusion of the Joint Ad Hoc Committee’s work at the end of January 2021.
“This will allow for the outcome of all resolutions from the Committee to be implemented together. The Administration is committed to creating a sustainable, growing, and rules-based electricity market for the benefit of all Nigerians.”
US intelligence agencies have said they believe Russia was behind the “serious” cyber compromise revealed in December.
President Trump had previously suggested China might have been behind the hack, although other members of his administration had pointed the finger at Moscow.
In a joint statement, the intelligence bodies say they currently believe fewer than 10 US government agencies saw their data compromised, although other organisations outside of government were also affected.
They say work is still going on to understand the scope of the incident, which appears to have been aimed at gathering intelligence and which they say is “ongoing” a month after details first emerged.
The update on the investigation came in a statement from a task force called the Cyber Unified Coordination Group which was set up to deal with the incident. It comprises intelligence and law enforcement agencies including the FBI and NSA.
The group said it was still working to understand the scope of what had taken place.
Soon after the incident was revealed, President Trump raised the possibility that China might be responsible, but members of his own administration including the secretary of state and attorney general pointed the finger at Moscow.
The latest statement shows the assessment of US intelligence agencies is that Russia was behind it, although it does not go so far as accusing the Russian state itself, saying only that the actor was “likely Russian in origin”. Moscow has denied playing any part.
President-elect Joe Biden has previously said it was important to take “meaningful steps” to hold those responsible to account. It is not yet clear, though, what that might involve. While some US politicians suggested the breach might even be compared to an “act of war”, most cyber-experts disputed this and the US intelligence community has now played down suggestions that it could have had destructive impact.
“At this time, we believe this was, and continues to be, an intelligence-gathering effort,” the latest statement says. This is significant since it suggests no evidence has been found that this was preparatory activity for a more destructive cyber-attack which might switch off systems. This may limit the US response since espionage operations do not breach the cyber norms the US itself promotes (largely because it too carries out such intelligence-gathering operations against other nations
But one surgery visited by the health secretary to promote the initiative said its delivery had been delayed.
More than 700 local vaccination sites will administer the jabs.
Another 180 GP-led sites, 100 new hospital sites and a pilot scheme involving local pharmacies will open this week.
The Oxford jab was initially given to patients in selected hospitals, including first recipient 82-year-old Brian Pinker.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was now being supplied to GP practices across the country as he visited the Bloomsbury Surgery in central London.
Mr Hancock said he was “delighted” care homes residents would begin receiving their first Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs this week.
“This will ensure the most vulnerable are protected and will save tens of thousands of lives,” he said.
But GP Ammara Hughes, a partner at Bloomsbury Surgery, told broadcasters its first delivery of the jab had been pushed back 24 hours to Thursday.
She said: “It’s just more frustrating than a concern because we’ve got the capacity to vaccinate. And if we had a regular supply – we do have the capacity to vaccinate three to four thousand patients a week.”
Mr Hancock said the “rate-limiting” factor in efforts to get people vaccinated was supply from the manufacturers.
The surgery said it was continuing to administer the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and had so far received three deliveries of that jab.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said vaccination centres and GP surgeries needed better information about deliveries of the vaccine and how much to expect to arrive.
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth tweeted that the scenes at the surgery were like something from political comedy The Thick of It, but added: “Sadly it’s no laughing matter.”
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first to be approved by the UK’s medicines regulator in early December, followed by the British-made Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine four weeks later.
Because it does not need to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures like the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, it can be transported and stored more easily, making it simpler to vaccinate housebound people and those in care homes.
Around half a million doses of both vaccines are ready to be used this week, with millions more in the pipeline in the coming weeks.
Citizens have been left stranded and frustrated outside offices of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) as staff of the commission embarked on industrial action.
“Consequent upon the just concluded congress of the above-mentioned association that took place on January 6, 2020, the unit executive directs all members of grade level 12 and below in the head office and state offices to report to their respective duty posts tomorrow January 7, 2020, and do nothing,” the notice stated.
The notice which was signed by Chairman of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, NIMC branch, Asekokhai Michael, and its Secretary, Odia Victor also stated that “all members at the local government offices and special centres are advised to stay away from their various centres as task force and implementation committees would be on parade to ensure total compliance to the directive.”
In December, the Nigerian Communications Commission directed all telecommunication firms to disconnect the SIM cards of all persons who have not integrated their National Identity Numbers with their phone lines by the end of January.
More than 95 million Nigerians are yet to integrate their National Identification Numbers and has brought about huge crowds to gather at the offices of NIMC nationwide in breach of the COVID-19 protocol.
In this file photo taken on December 3, 2020 US President Donald Trump speaks before awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to retired football coach Lou Holtz in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC.
A Baghdad court has issued a warrant for the arrest of US President Donald Trump as part of its investigation into the killing of a top Iraqi paramilitary commander.
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of Iraq’s largely pro-Iran Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary network, died in the same US drone strike that killed storied Iranian general Qasem Soleimani at Baghdad airport on January 3 last year.
The strike on their motorcade was ordered by Trump, who later crowed that it had taken out “two (men) for the price of one”.
The UN special rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, has described the twin killings as “arbitrary” and “illegal”.
Trump
Iran already issued a warrant for Trump’s arrest in June, and asked Interpol to relay it as a so-called red notice to other police forces around the world, a request that has so far gone unmet.
The court for east Baghdad issued the warrant for Trump’s arrest under Article 406 of the penal code, which provides for the death penalty in all cases of premeditated murder, the judiciary said.
The court said the preliminary inquiry had been completed but “investigations are continuing in order to unmask the other culprits in this crime, be they Iraqis or foreigners.”
In the run-up to Sunday’s anniversary of the twin killings, pro-Iran factions stepped up their rhetoric against Washington and Iraqi officials deemed to have colluded with it.
The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, on Wednesday mourned the death of his younger brother, Dr Haroun Hamzat.
Hamzat, who made the announcement through his Instagram page (drobafemihamzat), however called on the public to be conscious of the volatility of COVID-19 pandemic.
He implored everyone to obey all the rules of COVlD-19.
“There is urgent need for us as people to be conscious of the volatility of COVID-19.
“We should not only do this for ourselves, but for everyone we come in contact with. “Stay safe, use your masks, sanitise or wash your hands regularly and maintain social distancing,” the deputy governor said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the deceased died on Tuesday at the age of 37 years.
Until his death, he was a medical doctor in one of the public health centres in Orile Agege Local Council Development Area (LCDA), in Lagos.
The deputy governor prayed for the repose of the soul of his younger brother, and that Almighty Allah should forgive him his sins, and grant him eternal tranquility and Al Jannah Firdaus.
Atiku hopes Nigerians will soon have access to the vaccines to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The 2019 presidential candidate received the first of two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, according to a report by TheCable.
Atiku receiving covid19 vaccine in Dubai.
“The importance of the #COVID19 vaccine in mitigating the effect of the coronavirus cannot be overstated, particularly in Africa and Nigeria,” his spokesperson Paul Ibe said.
He said Atiku, 74, looks forward to when Nigerians, especially medical professionals in the frontline and the most vulnerable, will be vaccinated. Since COVID-19 was first detected in China in December 2019, it has infected over 87 million people and killed nearly 1.9 million across the world.
Vaccines were deployed in a few countries late in 2020 after a couple of them were confirmed to be over 90% effective against the virus.
Nigeria hopes to start a mass vaccination campaign at the end of January, with the delivery of 42 million doses of the vaccine expected by the end of the year.
That figure is expected to inoculate less than half of the nation’s estimated population of 200 million.
Since Nigeria’s first case was detected last February, over 92,000 cases have been recorded, with a feared second wave of infections kicking off in December.
Following a formal affirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, President Trump said the decision “represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history.”
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th,” Trump said in a statement.
Donald Trump
“I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted.
“While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again,” Trump said while repeating false claims about the election that incited a mob to storm the Capitol. – CNN
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